After Atalanta

I do very much enjoy the sports I play, but I have to admit that I also enjoy the gear associated with the sports I play: for example my new silver Adidas, 6-racket (I only have 2) bag with backpack straps. Sure everyone makes fun of how big it is; one of my teammates referred to it as a hockey bag. But it's pretty cool. And it's probably a little intimidating too. It makes me look like a better player than I actually am. The intimidation thing may have had an effect on the woman I played last night who only won three games during our match. [More likely it was the extreme humidity that had a greater adverse effect on her than me.] Anyway this is all to lead into a discussion of the availability of gear for women, which, I know, I have done before. But this month Her Sports + Fitness has their first ever gear guide devoted exclusively to women's gear. I haven't seen it yet. Maybe someone who goes to Barnes and Noble a lot might pick it up for me. It reviews apparel, eq...

I had to wait over a week to blog about this story I came across about hockey gear for girls because I was so irate about the ways in which people like to break gender barriers by reifying gender stereotypes. A mother in Maine found it impossible to find hockey gear for girls for her daughter, Bela, a kindergartner. "There was nothing but black - you know, boy's stuff," according to Anna Carol Alvarez Cloutier. She joined forces with another hockey mom, Justine Carlisle, who has two daughters who play the sport and they created a line of gear for girls called BelaHockey. Before I begin my rant, I want to say that gear that fits properly is of the utmost importance. Frequently, throughout history, as women have entered sports that have been traditionally masculine they have had to improvise the gear. While there are plenty of options for women these days who want to gear up for the gym, for yoga, tennis, swimming, etc., those who play sports where men still dominate (in te...